The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose by 0.2 percentage points to 4.1 per cent in April, up from a revised 3.9 per cent in March, according to new data by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
ABS head of labour statistics Bjorn Jarvis said employment had risen by around 38,000 people, while the number of unemployed grew by 30,000. This has also led to the participation rate increasing to 66.7 per cent.
"The 30,000 people increase in unemployment reflected more people without jobs available and looking for work, and also more people than usual indicating that they had a job that they were waiting to start in,” Jarvis said.
"The increases in both employment and unemployment in April saw the participation rate up by 0.1 percentage point to 66.7 per cent in April. It has been relatively high, above 66.5 per cent, since March 2023.”
Jarvis added that the employment-to-population ratio remained steady at 64.0 per cent in April, indicating that recent employment growth is broadly keeping pace with population growth.
“This suggests that the labour market remains tight, though less tight than late 2022 and early 2023.”
Seasonally adjusted monthly hours worked remained steady between March and April, with Jarvis noting that the seasonal change in hours worked in April was similar to the normal pattern seen around the Easter holidays.
"In contrast to what we saw last year, when fewer people than usual took time off around the Easter holidays in April 2023, the proportion of people working reduced hours in April 2024 was more similar to what we saw before the COVID-19 pandemic," Jarvis said.
Seasonally adjusted underemployment rate rose 0.2 percentage points to 6.6 per cent in April 2024. While the underemployment rate has risen by 0.4 percentage points since April 2023, it remained 2.1 percentage points lower than March 2020, ABS reported.
The underutilisation rate, which combines the unemployment and underemployment rates, rose 0.3 percentage points to 10.7 per cent. While this was 0.8 percentage points higher than April 2023, it was 3.3 percentage points lower than March 2020.
Meanwhile, the trend unemployment rate remained at 4 per cent in April, with employment growing by 31,000 in trend terms.
According to the ABS, trend terms is defined as the 'long term' movement in a time series without calendar-related and irregular effects, and is a reflection of the underlying level. It is the result of influences such as population growth, price inflation and general economic changes.
"The increase in trend employment in April is around what we have seen, on average, over the 20 years before the pandemic," Jarvis said.
Hours worked rose by 0.4 per cent between March and April in trend terms. The current trend data showed that hours worked had fallen during the second half of 2023 but now aligned more closely with employment growth since December 2023. It was 0.7 per cent above the previous peak in the trend series in June 2023.
The employment-to-population ratio remained at 64.0 per cent in April. This was still close to the historically high levels seen throughout 2023, ABS reported, and still 1.9 percentage points higher than March 2020.
The participation rate remained at 66.7 per cent. In rounded terms, this rate has been either 66.6 per cent or 66.7 per cent for the past 12 months, and well above the 65.6 per cent in March 2020.
"The employment-to-population ratio has been above 64.0 per cent, in trend terms, since June 2022,” Jarvis said. “The trend participation rate has also been above 66.4 per cent in the same period. Both are well above their pre-pandemic levels.”
The underemployment rate remained at 6.6 per cent and the underutilisation rate stayed at 10.6 per cent.
"The most recent trend data continues to point to a relatively tight labour market, consistent with what we have seen in Single Touch Payroll data and job vacancies data.”